Canopies and Cathedrals: A Cross-ContinentArt Collaboration Weaving Together Forests and Gothic Architecture
WELLS, UK / PERTH, AUSTRALIA — Canopies and Cathedrals is a new international art project that explores the connections between ancient forests and Gothic architecture.
It brings together artists from Australia and the United Kingdom.
The project invites audiences to experience the intertwined beauty of old-growth wilderness and the architectural grandeur of Wells Cathedral.
Sarah Robinson is excited to return to Wells, having been born in the local cottage hospital and having attended The Blue School sixth-form - before developing her career as a contemporary printmaker and lecturer.
David Carson also shares his English heritage as the participating artists now reside on opposite sides of the globe.
“Their work reveals a common thread of reverence for place—whether within the spiritual sanctum of a medieval cathedral or beneath the towering canopy of a forest in Western Australia.”
Artworks on show
Bridging the natural and the sacred through immersive sound, video, and print installations.
Central to the installation is a specially composed soundscape by UK-based experimental sound collective MPM—Jackson Mouldycliff, Phil Mouldycliff, and Colin Potter.
Longtime collaborators with Australian artist David Carson, MPM have crafted an auditory journey that combines field recordings from ancient Australian forests and cathedral interiors, including Wells, with ambient and melodic textures.
“The result is a richly layered sonic environment that evokes memory, mystery, and spatial reverence.”
Canopies and Cathedrals will be presented in the historic Chapter House and Undercroft at Wells Cathedral, where the sound installation will play throughout the space in the vicinity of three of Sarah’s large scale contemporary prints.
“Visitors will be immersed in a sensory blend of remote wilderness and sacred architecture—an experience that reflects on the urgent and universal human relationship with place, history, and the natural world.”
The project was sparked by a chance meeting in Mandurah, Western Australia, between David Carson and fellow artist Sarah Robinson. A conversation revealed their mutual connection to Wells Cathedral—Carson had recently visited the site, while Robinson had grown up nearby in the Mendip Hills.
This serendipitous exchange laid the foundation for a collaborative proposal, which has since come to life with the support of Wells Cathedral.
The exhibition Canopies and Cathedrals is at The Chapter House and Undercroft, Wells Cathedral, Somerset, UK, opens June 24th and runs until July 11th, 2025, open during normal Wells Cathedral opening hours.
Project Credits:
Video and installation by David Carson and Sarah Robinson
Soundscape by MPM (Jackson Mouldycliff, Phil Mouldycliff, Colin Potter)
You may also like the following events from Wells Cathedral:
Also check out other
Arts events in Wells,
Exhibitions in Wells,
Meetups in Wells.
